Wow...the semester is over?

I can't believe my first semester back to school is already over!!! I must say, a lot of changes have happened even since last August.

I made the decision last month to go completely vegetarian and am now flirting with the idea of Veganism. Now, my family kind of thinks I am crazy, but what's new? I read the book Eating Animals by Jonathon Safran Foer (my favorite author) and watched the film Food Inc. (finally!) and really started to decide that food is an important part of life and it is also important that even the food we choose to eat needs to align with our core values. Anyway, here I am...have not eaten meat in over a month! Woohoo!!!

Practicing jazz really started to come together on the keys...it was like one day the light shown through and as a matter of fact, I am getting ready to go transcribe some Bobby Timmons on My Funny Valentine as soon as I finish typing this blog.

Also, I am dating a wonderful individual that is growing in and loving life everyday. Finally, opening up in a real way, not just in the way that you tell all of the obvious truths in life...What more could a girl ask for!?

Anyway, practice is calling!

Peace and Love

Emily

a quote from my favorite book

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the magfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the magfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands,
and I am the man who was to pay his "debt of blood" to my people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life.
My pain is like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

-Thick Nhat Hanh in Peace is Every Step

family vacation

correction

I had a friend tell me that I needed to correct "hypocrite" from the last blog. She said that I am not a hypocrite, but she was taking it on a serious note. My little brother was just referring to when I poke him in the face or throw a peanut at his head...hahaha!

just to clarify

almost out of control

life is funny

I finished my summer class last night. There were three tests total and the final test we were able to use our notes and books. Incredible!

My little brother got into an argument with someone the other day. When I was talking to him about it to try and make him feel a little better, I asked him what was wrong with me to make him feel more comfortable talking about what he did wrong.
Here is what he said:

"You are full of yourself and you're a hypocrite." "You do things to others that you would not want done to you." -he was referring to the times when I throw things and they accidentally hit him in the face.

Naturally, this made me think. I do bring myself up in a lot of conversations. It is not that I am consciously doing it, it just happens, so to break this habit, I am going to have to consciously think about it for a while until it becomes subconscious. Then I can work on the hypocrite thing because that is a much more difficult thing to deal with. Of course, maybe that will just come with everything else. If I start thinking a little more before I act then maybe I wouldn't do some of the things I do. Anyway...

I must say that I am a very fortunate person to have the family that I do. We are getting ready to go on a vacation/family reunion and it is going to be crazy! I have been going through a lot of crazy things in the last few weeks and to experience some of that with my family around me will be very interesting. The really cool thing is that all of my brothers, their wives and my brother Ben's baby will all be able to go! It's like Christmas in the summer...haha

Running in the Rain

*Picture taken from late May '09 after a run...in my parents' driveway...Willy and I are buddies

This morning I was supposed to go running with a group on the West side of Wichita; however it was just pouring rain.

So, I am at my house, listening to music and cleaning and decide to open my door and watch the rain with my dog...mainly because I was trying to get him to go out to use the restroom. He was not having it.

Anyway, I just have this feeling that I am supposed to be outside, so I go running anyway. Right before I stepped out the door, it started pouring even harder! Then, the more I kept running, the lighter the rain became. It was amazing...simply amazing.

Now it is absolutely pouring and I wish I was back outside!